44: Owning or Being Owned
August 24, 2007
Project managers work as project managers for many different reasons. Good project managers do it because they enjoy managing projects and seeing the effects of a well run project on their organisation. The best project managers want to develop the people... Read more...
43: Gentle Interventions
August 17, 2007
There can be many things that can cause conflict on a project. Tight schedules, tight budgets, other peoples’ priorities, human resources (or more likely the lack of them), technical opinions, interpersonal conflicts and administrative procedures (you... Read more...
42: The Creative Process
August 10, 2007
In project management, creativity tends to come from the interaction between opposites. If everyone on the project is in total harmony and agreement things will be very peaceful but there will be no spark. Getting the team sat round a table and discussing... Read more...
41: Disturbing Wisdom
August 3, 2007
One of the ‘how things happen’ that I have observed is the effective learning cycle. This was originally propounded by David Kolb and more latterly popularises by Honey & Mumford. This states that the most effective way of learning is when we go through... Read more...
40: Meditation
July 27, 2007
Someone once asked me what the ten thousand things are.In the hurly-burly of project life it sometimes seems that there are very few moments of peace and quiet. We all know that we need these moments to slow down, take stock and re-charge our batteries.... Read more...
39: The Source of Power
July 20, 2007
Last Saturday the weather was good at last, so as planned, we took the steam train from Paignton to Kingswear then walked up the River Dart, over hills and valleys and through Long Wood, to Dittisham. They had warnings out about adders but all we saw... Read more...
38: Potent Leadership
July 13, 2007
Once upon a time, I used an exercise in my project management courses to identify the characteristics of good and bad leaders, by asking the delegates to think of the most effective ineffective managers they had ever known. Some of the flip charts we... Read more...
37: Doing Little
July 6, 2007
This seems a very appropriate topic for me this week as I have done very little, mostly as a result of having a lousy cold (what a great way to start July). My other half tells me that I usually get ill when I ease up after a period of pressure. Maybe... Read more...
36: Perception
July 1, 2007
All behaviours contain their opposites: a show of strength suggests insecurity, what goes up must come back down and if you wish to be prosperous, be generous. Pushy, bullying project managers usually have disastrous projects while the quiet ones succeed.... Read more...
35: Keep It Simple
June 22, 2007
The simple truth is that some people get caught up in drama, intrigue and the excitement of new ideas. They fail to observe what is going on around them, so they don’t see how things happen. They confuse the people around them and there is a loss of... Read more...